Allinson had a very successful spell at Colchester United, helping the team earn a play-off place by scoring the winner in the last game of 1976/77 season against Bradford City. Allinson was a consistent performer, appearing 308 times and scoring sixty-nine goals for Colchester. In the summer of 1983, Allinson moved to Arsenal. In the 1987 League Cup semi-final, he scored the equaliser against Tottenham, before setting up the winner - that's proper Arsenal!

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